Certified Cowboy (24 page)

“Daddy, no!” Kenny wrestled free from Johnny and lunged at his father, beating him with his fists. “Let Mommy go!”

Rex cursed, then shoved Kenny to the ground so hard that he fell backward.

Johnny grabbed Kenny and hauled the poor kid up, hating Rex with every fiber of his being.

Rachel gave Johnny a beseeching look. “Please take care of Kenny.”

Rex yanked Rachel by the hair and shoved her into the front seat of his car, then pushed her over to the passenger side and climbed in. Kenny screamed and tried to run toward the car, but Johnny caught him. Then Rex aimed at Johnny’s feet and fired a shot.

Johnny jumped back to dodge the bullet, protecting Kenny with his body, then Rex started the engine and raced away.

Johnny spun around, hunting for security and saw Brody jogging toward him. The rodeo was ending, the crowd beginning to spill out. A minute later and traffic would be clogged.

“What’s going on?” Brody yelled.

“Rachel’s ex has her!” Johnny handed Kenny to Brody. “Take care of him, Brody. I have to go after her.”

Kenny tried to wiggle free again. “I’m going, too. She’s my mommy. I gots to save her.”

“No,” Johnny said, tempering his anger. “It’s too dangerous, buddy. Just trust me and go with Brody.”

Tears ran down Kenny’s face. “But Mommy…”

“You are a big man, a brave guy, a real cowboy, Kenny.” Johnny squeezed Kenny’s arm. “But let me finish this. I’ll bring your mommy back to you, son. I promise. Now hurry, go with Brody so I can catch up with them.”

Kenny’s chin quivered, but he nodded, then Brody tossed him his keys. “Take my SUV. It’s parked by the fence.”

Johnny caught the keys, then broke into a dead run. He jumped in the SUV, started the engine and punched the accelerator. The SUV bounced over the pasture, then onto the narrow road leading to the highway. He spotted the town car ahead rounding a curve, and stomped on the gas, then chased it onto the main road.

The town car sped up, tires screeching as Rex took another curve going too fast, then Johnny saw Rachel fighting him for the steering wheel. The car careened sideways, hit a pothole, swerved the opposite way and skated along the embankment. Dirt and gravel spewed from the vehicle, tires squealing again as Rex struggled to keep it on the road.

Johnny was closing in, but Rex raised his gun and slammed the butt of it down against Rachel’s head. She fell sideways, then collapsed.

Cold rage unlike anything Johnny had ever felt heated his blood, and he accelerated and slammed into the town car’s bumper. The sedan skidded sideways, and Rex swerved onto a dirt road. Johnny careened after him, spitting dust as he banged into the man’s bumper again.

The road wound back and forth for a mile, then Rex swung the car around and headed straight toward him. Johnny thought he was going to hit him, but Rex screeched to a stop, jumped out and fired at him. Glass shattered and sprayed the ground, and Johnny jerked sideways as another bullet pelted the door.

Johnny hit the brakes, screeched to a stop, landing sideways, his front bumper only a few feet from the town car’s. Using every ounce of control he possessed, Johnny counted the bullets as Rex unloaded two more at him. Cursing, he opened his door and crouched behind it, using it as a shield.

Rachel still hadn’t moved. Johnny’s chest clenched with fear. Every second counted.

Rage fueled his adrenaline, and he inched back behind his car, ducking low and circling behind Rex’s car to launch a surprise attack.

He almost made it, too, but his foot hit a twig. It snapped and Rex jerked his head around. Johnny threw himself forward and grabbed Rex by the shoulders, forcing him to drop the gun. They rolled and fought, Johnny’s temper escalating as he punched the man repeatedly.

Then a groan from the seat echoed toward him, and for just a second he eased up. That moment gave Rex the chance he needed, and he crawled for the gun. Johnny tried to reach it first, but Rex snagged it, whipped it around and fired.

Pain rocked through Johnny’s chest as the bullet ripped into him. He staggered back at the impact, falling into the dirt, and Rex jumped on top of him, then raised the pistol at his head.

Johnny’s life flashed in front of him. His mistakes. His cocky attitude, an attitude he’d adopted to cover up the loneliness of not having a family to love. A family who loved him back.

Dammit. He wanted that family and he wanted it with Rachel.

But he might lose her now, and he’d never even told her that he loved her.

R
ACHEL SLOWLY
ROUSED
from unconsciousness, her head throbbing. She lifted her hand to wipe away the blood trickling down her forehead, momentarily disoriented. But flashes of Rex dragging Kenny toward his car rippled back, and she remembered trading herself for her son.

Squinting against the darkness, she pulled herself up, scrambling to see where Rex had taken her. Probably some isolated place where he could kill her and dump her body.

Where was he?

Blinking to clear her head, she crawled to the driver’s side hoping to find the keys but heard a moan of pain from outside and suddenly spotted Rex. Her lungs tightened.

Rex had Johnny pinned down, and was waving his gun above Johnny’s face.

“You’re gonna die for messing with my woman,” Rex growled.

Johnny moaned, and Rachel realized he’d been shot. “You won’t get away.”

Anger churned through Rachel. Johnny had been so good to her and Kenny. He’d saved their lives.

She couldn’t let her ex-husband kill him.

Adrenaline fueled her, and she threw herself on top of Rex. Her surprise attack sent the gun flying across the ground. She pummeled Rex with her fists, beating his head until he rolled off Johnny. Blood soaked Johnny’s shirt, and a sob caught in her throat. Rex threw her off him with such force that her head connected with the ground, knocking the wind from her.

Then Rex bellowed and lunged for her.

Rachel had been beaten by him one too many times. She dodged his blow, then rolled sideways, pushed to her hands and knees and crawled toward the gun. Rex clawed at her ankle, and she shoved her other foot back and kicked him in the face with the heel of her boot. He yelped in pain and anger, then scrambled for her, but she scurried toward the weapon, digging in the dirt as she went. Rex slapped his hand on the back of her calf and dragged her backward. She clawed for something to fight him with, kicking wildly, then her fingers closed around a stick.

She swung it back, stabbing at his face, earning another cry of pain as she jabbed his eye.

“You bitch!” Cursing like a sailor, he dove for her again, but Rachel dived for the gun. She grabbed it, rolled to her side and aimed just as he jumped her.

The gun went off, the sound bouncing off the night air, then Rex grunted and his body slumped forward on top of her. Rachel collapsed, pushing at him, desperate to get him off her.

A wet stickiness soaked her, and then Rex’s eyes went wide and glassy. Nausea clogged her throat.

She had killed him.

A hysterical scream tore from her, but through the haze of her panic, she remembered Johnny was hurt. Trembling all over, she tossed the gun into the dirt and tried to stand. Her legs wobbled as she ran toward Johnny.

Please don’t be dead…

Fear clawed at her chest as she dropped down to see if he was breathing. Her own breaths were coming in noisy pants, her hands shaking as she placed one of them on his heart. Then his eyes slipped open and she felt the slow rise and fall of his chest.

“Rachel,” he whispered.

“Shh,” she said softly. “It’s over. Rex is dead, Johnny.”

Only it wasn’t over. Not for her.

She stumbled to the car and found Rex’s cell phone. She had to get help for Johnny.

But then the sheriff would take her away. And after all she’d been through, she’d lose Kenny.

But she loved Johnny too much to let him die, so she punched the sheriff’s number.

J
OHNNY FADED IN
AND OUT
of consciousness, his mind blurred by pain and drugs as the paramedics arrived and began an IV. Blue lights from the ambulance and police swirled against the darkness, then Brody was talking to him, telling him Rex was dead, and the sheriff appeared, asking him questions.

What happened? Who shot first? Rachel killed her husband? What did he know about her past? Was he aware there was a warrant out for her arrest? Had she kidnapped her son?

Johnny searched for Rachel, but it was hard to see anything from the gurney. He vaguely remembered telling her Brody had Kenny, then her holding his head in her hands, stroking his forehead and murmuring soft words to him while they’d waited for the ambulance. But then the sheriff arrived and he’d passed out…

The medics lifted him into the ambulance and he raised his head and finally saw her. His heart wrenched.

The sheriff was handcuffing her and putting her into the back of his car.

Johnny breathed through his teeth. “No…can’t arrest her…Kenny.”

But his words died as the painkillers took over and he slipped into unconsciousness.

R
ACHEL FOUGHT
A SOB
as the sheriff locked her inside his squad car, flipped on the siren and careened down the dirt road. The coroner was taking care of Rex. Johnny was headed to the hospital. And Kenny was safe at the ranch with Brody and Ms. Ellen.

But she was on her way to jail.

Lights swirled in the night, the echo of the siren blasting, a reminder that there was nowhere to run. Not anymore.

Tears leaked from her eyes, and she doubled over, nausea gripping her. She loved Johnny, but he had been shot trying to protect her.

Kim’s warning taunted her. She hadn’t meant to get Johnny hurt, but he’d nearly died because of her.

Johnny was better off without her in his life.

But God help her, she wasn’t sorry Rex was dead. At least he couldn’t turn his wrath on her son.

Only, who would take care of Kenny now?

Chapter Twenty-One

Johnny railed against the doctors’ orders to stay in bed after the surgery. He cursed the injustice of seeing Rachel hauled away in handcuffs.

And he nearly broke down and cried when Brody told him Kenny had been taken to a foster home.

By God, he was not going to stay in this damn hospital another second. He was going to the courthouse for Rachel’s hearing and convince the judge that she had been a victim.

“Listen, Johnny,” Brody said. “An attorney is working on her release.”

“I’ll pay whatever it costs,” Johnny said. “And if we have to bring criminal charges against the cops that bastard had on his payroll, we’ll do it.”

Johnny ripped the IV from his arm, then reached for the clothes Brody had brought him.

“You can’t leave now,” Brody said. “The doctor hasn’t released you yet.”

“Either drive me to the courthouse or step aside,” Johnny said. “Rachel is not going to spend another night in jail.”

For God’s sake, she’d already been there two nights. No telling what had happened to her. And poor Kenny… Foster homes sometimes held horrors of their own.

Brody relented and made a phone call while Johnny yanked on his clothes. His chest hurt like the devil, but the pain from the bullet that had lodged within an inch of his heart didn’t compare to the agony of thinking that he might lose Rachel and Kenny.

When Brody returned, his expression was grave, but he helped Johnny down the hall and into the elevator. A half hour later, Johnny clutched his chest, battling for each breath as he and Brody strode into the courtroom.

Rachel’s pale face tore at him as a guard led her in in handcuffs. Her gaze met his, and anguish and despair darkened her eyes. He tried to silently telegraph to her that everything would be okay.

But was it going to be? What if the judge didn’t listen and she went to jail?

The judge called the hearing to order and the next few minutes passed, filled with legal jargon and formalities. Then the door opened and Brandon and Ms. Ellen and the other boys, counselors and ranch hands filed in. Johnny’s throat clogged with emotions as he realized they were there to support him and Rachel. The BBL had become a big family. Even Ricardo, who had first put the snake on Rachel’s bed, looked incensed and protective as the charges against Rachel were read.

Then Rachel’s lawyer called Johnny to the stand. He was sworn in, then relayed exactly what had happened the night he’d been shot.

“Rex Presley tried to kidnap his son, then took Rachel at gunpoint, assaulted her in his vehicle, then opened fire on me.”

Rachel’s handcuffed hands were clenched on top of the table, tears brimming in her eyes as she stared at him. He wanted to go to her and hold her and assure her that he loved her so badly that he could hardly talk.

After he testified, the judge surprised him by calling Kenny to the stand.

Kenny looked small and scared, but then glanced at Johnny and squared his little shoulders as if he was a big man, and Johnny remembered telling him that a real cowboy lived by a code of ethics and told the truth.